1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an image processing system, an image processing apparatus, and an image processing method for performing blank page determination.
2. Description of the Related Art
Conventionally, there is a typically used method referred to as “blank page determination” for determining whether the correct side of an original has been scanned with the use of an image processing function. The blank page determination method deletes image data determined as being blank (i.e., image data obtained by scanning a blank page). Accordingly, this method reduces the resources used for image processing (e.g., less memory area), and also reduces processing time. Furthermore, the blank page determination method can be applied to various technologies, such as dividing a document at blank pages, single-sided scanning, double-sided scanning, improving the printing efficiency, and page alignment (See Japanese Laid-Open Patent Application No. 2008-219820 (patent document 1), or Japanese Laid-Open Patent Application No. 2002-077669 (patent document 2)).
However, originals to be scanned include various contents. There may be a page that should not be determined as a blank page even though there are no characters. There may be a page that should be determined as a blank page because there are no characters, but the page is not determined as a blank page due to patterns or noise. Thus, the conventional technology has not been capable of accurately determining blank pages. Furthermore, the conventional technology has not been capable of handling originals of various colors (white page, black page, colored page, inverted colors, and a page in which characters and background colors are combined in various ways).    Patent Document 1: Japanese Laid-Open Patent Application No. 2008-219820    Patent Document 2: Japanese Laid-Open Patent Application No. 2002-077669